8 Creative Ideas for Your Valentine’s Day Photo Cards

8 Creative Ideas for Your Valentine’s Day Photo Cards

8 Creative Ideas for Your Valentine’s Day Photo Cards

January 17, 2018Sheree Whiteley

Valentine’s Day cards come in all shapes and sizes: Some are crafted from construction paper and doilies. Others feature fancy schmancy cardstock and make you wonder when the price of greeting cards went up to $10. Some play a cheese-tastic song when you open them (and even after you’ve hastily snapped them shut). And then there’s the Valentine’s Day photo card, a fairly modern phenom that’s been gaining popularity faster than the latest Kardashian/Jenner beauty line.

Photo cards convey your message visually and feel extra personal. And while you could simply add text to a photo and send it out the door, we have a few ideas about how to give your photos some extra love—which is kinda what this whole Valentine’s Day thing is about. Check out these creative ideas below, then add your beautified photos to a card template or make your sentimental expression from scratch with our design and editing tools. It’s your pic-rogative.

1. Create a collage card for your your sweetheart

How do we love collage? Let us count the ways—and then put all those ways into a collage. The collage photo card is often seen during the holiday season (especially around New Year’s), but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used for your Valentine’s Day creations.

Maybe sending holiday cards fell to the bottom of the holiday to-do list. Spread some love with a family Valentine’s Day photo card that features sweet pics from the whole year. Wanna tell your beloved how much you adore them, but can’t find the words? Use photos of your adventures together to craft a happy-tear-inducing collage card, and the only words you’ll need are “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

To make a collage in PicMonkey:

Hover over the Collage button on the homepage and open your pics in the collage maker.

2. Make a Valentine’s Day double exposure

Double exposures are nothing short of stunning, and since they instantly associate two photos, they’re really good at telling stories and conveying moods. Get artsy heartsy by crafting a two-in-one for your one-and-only. Adorn your Galentine’s Day invites with an eye-poppingly gorgeous photo masterpiece. And don’t worry—even though double exposures look high-end, they’re not too tough to make.

To make a double exposure in PicMonkey:

Open a photo in the Editor and head to the Textures tab.

Select a texture (or open your own) and adjust the fade, saturation, and blend modes until you like how both images look on your canvas.

To adjust the translucence of your texture, use the Paint palette: set Brush strength to about 50 and erase over the parts of your original image you’d like to come through more clearly.

If it’s step-by-step instructions you seek, check out our short video tutorial.

3. Add some romance with bokeh

If you’re looking for a supa fast way to amplify the mood of your photo, bokeh is the way to go. You’ll find these beautifully blurry shapes in the Textures and Effects tab, and heart-shaped bokeh also shows up in our Sweethearts theme, which is basically a virtual box full of Valentine’s Day design goodness. Paint your bokeh of choice onto parts of your photo to make it feel more romantic, whimsical, or sweet. And if you’re looking for a bucket load of bokeh inspo, we’ve got that for ya, too.

Choose your bokeh adventure: head to Bokeh Shapes in the Effects tab, Bokeh in the textures tab, or the Sweethearts theme in the Themes tab.

Use the controls on the Paint palette to paint on or erase your bokeh from different parts of your image.

4. Get instant V-Day vibes with a heart shaped crop

Valentize your photo in seconds with Heart Cutouts, in the Sweethearts theme. Heart Cutouts crops your pic into the most popular shape of the season with a single click, and surrounds it with a very V-Day pattern, or solid color of your choosing.

To use Heart Cutouts:

Open your photo in the Editor.

Head to the Themes tab and choose Sweethearts.

Click Heart Cutouts.

Customize with the Color, Swatch, Size, and Angle controls until you get a look you love.

5. Double the love with the Mirror effect

We customized our Hearts A-Flutter template and added a mirror image to make this creative V-Day card.

Bump the creativity level of your Valentine’s Day photo cards up a bazillion notches by making an oh-so artsy mirror image. Reflect your image vertically, horizontally, or—wait for it—both! All you need is a fabulous photo and the Mirror effect, in the Effects tab.

To make a mirror image in PicMonkey:

Open your photo in the Editor.

Head to the Effects tab and choose Mirror.

Play with the four mirror options and Offset slider until you get the look you’re lookin’ for.

Save your image and add it to a template, print and scribble, or use the Text tool to add a sweet message.

Discover ways to create all kinds of mirror effect magic in our tutorial.

6. Keep it classic with a color pop

Get this look by adding your own color pop pic to our Pink Impression template.

Click Original on the Paint palette and erase the effect from an area of your image.

7. Dress up your sweet words with a text mask

We crafted this look by adding a text mask image to our Arrow Amour template.

Put your photos and words together in an innovative way by making a text mask—those words-filled-with-pictures dealios you’ve probably seen around the internet. Round up an image you adore and a word or short phrase that explains how you feel (“Love” and “You + Me” are always goodies for V-Day).

How to make a text mask in PicMonkey:

Pick an image or texture you want to fill in your text.

Open a blank canvas and make it white.

Add text (Text tab).

Head to the Graphics tab and use the Add your own button to open your image.

8. Don’t forget the Valentine’s Day graphics!

Love this look? Make it yours when you add your graphic-laden pic to our Crimson Crush template.

Add a little whimsy to your Valentine’s Day photo card with graphics—a.k.a. graphics. Peruse the Graphics tab for everything from quirky people toppers like glasses and hats to speech bubbles to the essential V-Day hearts, and have some fun with your card creation.

How to add an graphic in PicMonkey:

Open your image in the Editor and click the Graphics tab.

Peruse the selections in the Graphics tab until you find the perfect one.

Click the graphic to add it to your picture.

Use the Graphic palette to adjust its color, size, and fade.

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Sheree Whiteley

Sheree is a PicMonkey copywriter, lover of laughs, and 21st century bon vivant. When she’s not quilling clever articles, you might find her grilling a veggie medley, checking out a local band, or trying a new Seattle hot spot.